Method of treating wax and the products resulting from same



' 18 1927 Oct' o E. lENELL METHOD OF TREATING WAX IAED THE PRODUCTSRESULTING FROM SAME Filed Dec. 24; `192:4

,4m/MAL an #fair/wf ha! l Patented Oct. 18, l19.27.`

UNITED STATES 1PATENT orifice.

o'r'ro a. anni., or ALHAMBRA, cALnroaNiA, Assieiroa '.ro ciiAnaLoIncniiincAL COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., CORPORATION OI' WEST VIRGINIA.,

lannion or raaA'riNG wAx AND 'rmi raonuc'rs nnsUrirING- :anon: sAms.

vApplication filed December 24, 1924. Serial No. 757,815.

The present invention relates to methods of treating normally solid waxparticularly non-mineral wax and the products resulting therefrom.

5 An object ofl the present invention is to provide a method of treatingwax which will decrease the density of same.

A further object is to provide a'method of treating wax which willrender same more readily miscible with liquids to .form a resultingcomposition which will for greatly prolonged periods lof time maintainits desired consistency.

A further-object is to provide a method A of treating waxes which issimple in its. na

ture and inexpensive and effective to render said wax miscible with aliquid to forma homogeneous and stable product.

In the makingof many products in which waxesare used, such as paint andvarnish removers, oor wax, furniture wax, wax mixtures for coatingpaper, wood, steel, plaster, etc., the wax is to'be dissolved orthoroughly incorporated with liquids which may be solvents ornon-solvents therefor, but it is desired to maintain the wax in asoftened state or otherwise well mixed with the said liquids, and tomaintain a stable and relatively homogeneous mixture of'theconstituents.

Further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

The accompanying 'drawing illustrates .diagrammatically certainapparatus by.

-means of which the In the manufacture of pastes and liquids containingwax and a li uid (e. g. paint and varnish removers), di culty has beenen- 40 countered due to the fact that the 4wax will separate out. In agreat number of preparations this wax will harden or granulate, so

that the product as originally vmanufactured becomes, after a time,practically non-usable.

In other cases, distinct strata of liquid and semi-solids are formedwhich require heating and -stirrin if practical uniformity is to be had.Suc articles ofcommerce, when used by unsln'lled ersons -orworkmen notexercising the hig est degree of care, do

notivethebestresults. v

e resent .invention contemplates a vmethod y means of which wax ma 'be"so treated that it may be mixed with md (e. g.

present invention may the liquid constituents of 'a and var- 'ofsuspension in nish remover), and will remain in a state L said -fluidfor indefinite periods of time, or at least will remain in 'suspensionfor a much longer period than when using the same kind of wax in anuntreated state. The products of said method are useful in many arts,as, for example, the art of making polishes, the art of'making varmshremovers, the art o'f making floor wax, the art of making furniture wax,the art of making wax coatings for paper, wood, steel and plaster, and aklegion of other arts.

According to thepresent invention, a normally solid non-mineral wax, orwaxes such, for example, as carnauba wax, is treated with apredetermined quantity of trisodium phosphate and water. The mixture ofwax, trisodium phosphate and water is boiled'in a kettle or other recetacle. y this boiling process a substance is obtained which has smooth,creamy or soap-like characteristics, the density being variable byvarying the proportions of the ingredients and the time and temperatureof the treatment. The boiling process above referred to will have theladvantage, also, of throwing out from the wax many impurities which mayoccur therein, such as tar, oils and other forei substances.y Saidimpurities or foreign su stances in many cases have greater density thanthe smooth substances of creamy or soa' -like consistency above referredto, and wil settle at the'bottom of the kettle or other receptacle. lThe precipita-te of impurities may e drawn o from the bottom of saidkettle or' receptacle, and the wax product may if desired, be washedwith water to assist in the removal of impurities. Said washing withseveral changes of water will remove most of the free trisodiumphosphate. By continued washings the amount f of free trisodiumphosphate may be reduced to a very small amount.` In man instances,however, the presence of triso ium phosphate to the extent of a few percent in the finished product is decidedly beneficial. If the presence oftrisodium phosphate in lafree state in' 'the final product is desired,the

amount of washing may be cut down', or trisodium hofspigte. may be addedafter the product has n washed to the desired ex- Withoutlrestricting-the invention details, the following is given as apreferred4 v tent.

. treatment oflcarnaubawax of the common 1.10 i

ordinary variety, of what vmight be con- -v sidered to be about anaverage grade off purity. pounds of the carnau-ba wax are melted ands'ay 5 gallons of water containinv' 2 pounds of trisodium phosphate areadded), (hot or cold). The mass is brought to about the boiling point ofwater and stirred wellv for say 10 minutes. The steam is then cut oiiandthe mass allowed to settle, the melted wax floating von the aqueousmaterial, inv

. Vment will be enough.

As above stated, the present invention is vsuitable for use with variousnormally solid of'the wax).

non-mineral waxes, further exam les'of such waxes that may be citedinclude apan wax,

beeswax Vand barberiywax. The above proportions, temperatures, etc., canbe used with these waxes, but with beeswax, on account of its higheracidity, I would ordinarily use -rather larger amounts ofthe trisodiumphosphate, say 30 to 35% (based on the' amount A diagrammatic showing4of apparatus appears in the drawing. It will be understood that saidapparatus is merely illustrative of a simple apparatus which may be usediii carrying out the present invention. Referring to said drawing,A thenumeral 1 indicates a kettle, which may be provided. with a steamjacket, indicated by the numeral 2, for the urpose of heatingisaid kettle, Steam can admitted" to t e picket through valved pipe 9 andwithdrawn through lvalved pipe 10. Saidv kettle may be carried by thestandards 3f?, and the kettle pro er may have an outlet 4 at its bottom,w ich outlet is controlled bythe valve 5. Extending into said kettle 1sthe ipe 6, which ma be controlled by the valve g. As clearly in 'catedinthe drawlng, the 6 extends to al region adjacent to the Pe The treatedwax,

f ttom of the kettle. which is of a smooth, cream or soap-likeconsistency floats u n the ot water beneath same, which ot watercontalns the impurities which have been thrown out of the wax by actionof the trisodium phosphate used. Cool water will be 'admitted throughthe pipe 6, andthe outlet valve 5 will be opened to such anrextent as toflush outthe bottom of the'kettle, leaving theV wax there. This willchill the supernatant product which is desired to be produced. Thisesult in the formation of 'a chilling will r v semi-solid substance, thedensity of which depends upon the .proportion of the. trisodiumphosphate, water and wax, 4to each other, the length of time oftreatment, and the temperature of the treatment,- as above referred to.l g

After the water containingpthe impurities above referred to has beendrawn oil', the valve may be Vclosed andfresh water admitted through thepipe 6. The fresh supply of water may be heated tothe degree necessaryto liquefy the ma, which has a creamy, vsoap-like consistency abovereferred to. Agitation may be applied to the contents of the kettle by apaddle or other stirring device, (not shown) whereby further 'impuritieswillvbe washed out of said substance. The liquid at'the bottom of thekettle may be again chilled bythe application of cold water, whichapplication will chill the supernatant substance, which will againattain a semi-solid consistency. The water may then be drawn off fromtheb'ottom of the kettle. Further washings may be given, it' preferred,to produce a substance of the desired purity. 1

The resultant product maybe mixed with other waxes, or may be mixed withother waxes and liquids, or may be mixed with liquids without theaddition of other waxes, to produce a .permanently homogeneous paste orfluid mixtures useful in many arts.

' Itis of course obvious that the vnature and quantity of the said othersubstance to be mixed with the purified wax will depend on theparticular final product to be produced `and this purified wax canbesubstituted in yarious formulas known in the art, in place.

of unpuried waxes.v Such formulas being well known,need not be givenhere.

It is to be understood that the steps above recited are given merely forthe purpose of illustrating the invention and are not to be consideredin a limiting sense. Many modiications will occur to those skilled inthe art. It is intended to cover all such modi fications that fallwithin the scope of the ap ended claims. Y

he use of the treated waxes in paint and varnish removers is claimed in.my cepend- -ing apylillication` 757,816, filed concurrently "f herewitWhat is claimed is: v

1. The method of treating a normally solid non-mineral wax whichconsists of .heating same at least suiicient to li uefy the same incontact with trsodium p osphate and water and allowing heavy impuritiesto settle out.

2. The method ofti'eating normally solid non-mineral wax which consistsin heattreatin same in contact with liquid Water and trisodiumphosphate, the temperature bei-n suilicient to mel-t the wax, washingout t e impurities thrown out by such treat ment-and chilling theremainder of the waxy material to provide a substance of relatively lowdensity.

3. A pur'ilied normally solid non-mineral wax product comprising theconstituents of untreated non-rriineral wax of the same kind,substantially free from those normal constituents of impure wax of thesame kind l solution and the animal and vegetable waxes which consistsin melting the waxand adding thereto an aqueous solution of trisodiumphosphate, and agitating the mass while suiiiciently hot to keep the waxmolten, then allowing the mass to settle and separate into an upper ayerof purified wax and a lower aqueous layer containing the filfrisodiumphosphate moved from the solidify the wax, and drainingthe aqueousliquid and"sludge"from the wax.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 24th-day of November, 1924.

oTTo im.l ENELL.

sludge of impurities re- 25 wax, cooling the massjp'm.

